Science News Today — Latest Discoveries
The latest science news today — research, discoveries and breakthroughs, explained simply and updated continuously on Plax.
Melting diamond could unlock triple fusion gain and the secrets of ice giant planets
Diamond is more than a dazzling gem—the extremely hard form of carbon makes up the pellet that encases fuel for inertial confinement fusion, and scientists believe it rains down deep inside ice giant planets like Neptune and Uranus. In both…
Phys.org · 13 Aug, 03:40 pmReddit analysis finds AI trust narrowly exceeds distrust, 31% to 26%
Is generative artificial intelligence technology a helpful tool or a big problem? Nearly four years after ChatGPT became a household name, most people are either using AI applications or generally aware of what the technology can do. But un…
Phys.org · 13 Aug, 03:40 pmSugar molecule could help protect against dangerous hospital fungus Candida auris
Researchers have developed a potential new approach against the highly drug-resistant hospital fungus Candida auris. They discovered that a synthetic sugar molecule that is a natural part of the fungus's cell wall, but is not present in hum…
Phys.org · 13 Aug, 03:20 pmFungal age remains elusive as underground networks continually grow, split and recycle
Some of Earth's oldest living organisms may be right beneath our feet: not ancient trees or coral reefs but fungi. Yet despite their ubiquity and importance, scientists still don't know how long most fungi can live—or even how to define the…
Phys.org · 13 Aug, 03:00 pmThinking fast and slow: Wild fish reveal how cognition evolved in two closely related species
Why do two individuals faced with the same information sometimes make completely different decisions? It is a question made famous by Nobel laureate Daniel Kahneman, whose book "Thinking, Fast and Slow" explored the contrast between rapid,…
Phys.org · 13 Aug, 02:40 pmUnderstanding nature's 'dimmer switch': Study sheds new light on how algae regulate photosynthesis with pH
A new joint study from Constructor University and Princeton University in the Journal of the American Chemical Society focuses on PC645, a protein complex that contributes to cryptophyte algae's ability to photosynthesize efficiently using…
Phys.org · 13 Aug, 02:20 pmA magnetic path to lower-power computing
From smartphones to data centers, modern electronics rely on billions of tiny switches that consume electricity every time they turn on or off. As global demand for computing continues to grow, so does the energy required to power it. Scien…
Phys.org · 13 Aug, 02:00 pmGreater vegetable diversity needed for healthier diets and climate-resilient agriculture
In a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers show how a wider diversity of vegetables could help improve diets and strengthen agriculture against climate change. They use the term vegetable biodiv…
Phys.org · 13 Aug, 01:40 pmComplex suicidal somersault behavior in male redback spiders may be explained by surprisingly simple genetics
The Australian redback spider (Latrodectus hasselti), a cousin of the North American black widow spider, is known to practice sexual cannibalism, which is somewhat common among spider species. However, the male Australian redback has also b…
Phys.org · 13 Aug, 01:40 pmControlling wild pigs can work if it's a group effort
The federal government is injecting millions of dollars into efforts to combat feral hogs—and it's considering spending even more in the coming years. The problem has grown for decades, but our research has found that a recently revived fed…
Phys.org · 13 Aug, 01:20 pmMuon g-2 experiment places new constraints on a forbidden property of muons
A year after its final muon magnetic anomaly announcement, the Muon g-2 collaboration reports a new measurement of a different property of the muon: its electric dipole moment. The work is published on the arXiv preprint server.
Phys.org · 13 Aug, 01:20 pmActive supermassive black holes may help form massive planets
A popular myth about black holes is that they act like giant cosmic vacuum cleaners, sucking in everything around them. But Wladimir Lyra's research found a new mechanism around supermassive black holes that is more like a cosmic nursery, g…
Phys.org · 13 Aug, 01:11 pmOzempic may have revealed the brain’s hidden “craving center”
Ozempic-like drugs appear to weaken more than hunger—they may also reduce cravings for alcohol and other addictive substances. Scientists are increasingly tracing this effect to the lateral septum, a brain region that helps connect memories…
Science Daily · 12 Aug, 02:36 pmScientists turn Starlink into a giant scanner for Earth’s upper atmosphere
Researchers have found a clever new way to map a part of Earth’s upper atmosphere that is notoriously difficult to observe. Using orbital data from roughly 1,200 Starlink satellites, they reconstructed changes in atmospheric density about 5…
Science Daily · 12 Aug, 01:38 pmScientists discover a hidden brain rhythm that could improve Parkinson’s treatment
Scientists have pinpointed a brain network—and its distinctive electrical rhythm—that appears to drive the benefits of deep brain stimulation for Parkinson’s disease. The discovery could lead to more precise, personalized stimulation settin…
Science Daily · 12 Aug, 01:20 pm3,500-year-old skeletons challenge what scientists thought they knew about syphilis
Ancient remains from Vietnam suggest diseases like yaws may have been passed from mother to child thousands of years ago, a form of transmission often assumed to indicate syphilis. The discovery could overturn how scientists interpret ancie…
Science Daily · 12 Aug, 01:05 pmThe adult brain can repair itself better than scientists thought
The adult brain may be far better at repairing itself than scientists once believed. In mice, researchers discovered a special group of support cells called astrocytes that respond to damaged brain tissue by rebuilding lost cellular network…
Science Daily · 12 Aug, 12:43 pmScientists turn sheep’s wool into a material that helps regrow bone
Keratin extracted from sheep’s wool helped damaged bone regenerate in animals, producing tissue that was more organized and structurally similar to healthy bone than tissue grown with conventional collagen scaffolds. The discovery could tur…
Science Daily · 12 Aug, 11:17 amJames Webb captures a cosmic lion sculpted by a dying star
James Webb has captured a striking new infrared view of NGC 2392, the Lion Nebula, revealing the dramatic aftermath of a dying Sun-like star. At its center, a scorching white dwarf is blasting radiation into surrounding gas and dust, carvin…
Science Daily · 12 Aug, 10:15 amA strange crystal made of electrons just revealed its hidden motion
Physicists have found a new way to peer inside one of matter’s most elusive quantum states: the Wigner crystal, where electrons stop behaving like independent particles and organize into a crystal-like pattern. By shining light on an atomic…
Science Daily · 12 Aug, 09:10 amScientists find evidence for two origins of life on Earth
Scientists probing life’s deepest origins have uncovered evidence that the first free-living cells may have emerged not once, but twice. The findings suggest a striking possibility: life may share one ancient genetic code, yet have undergon…
Science Daily · 12 Aug, 05:32 amMIT neuroscientists discover the brain can reason without words
MIT neuroscientists have found striking evidence that language and logical reasoning are powered by separate systems in the brain. Even people with severe language impairments caused by stroke were able to solve challenging logic puzzles as…
Science Daily · 11 Aug, 01:12 pm“Cannot be explained” – New super steel stuns scientists
Scientists have created an unusually corrosion-resistant stainless steel that could replace costly titanium components used to produce green hydrogen. The breakthrough could reduce structural material costs by roughly 40 times and make seaw…
Science Daily · 11 Aug, 12:59 pmBlack holes older than the Big Bang could explain dark matter
Some black holes roaming the Universe today may actually be older than the Big Bang. A new cosmic “bounce” model suggests the Universe expanded from an earlier contracting phase, allowing ancient black holes to survive the transition as cos…
Science Daily · 11 Aug, 10:14 am